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things would have been different if I’d known you were pregnant.”
    “That’s exactly the point. I didn’t want you to stay because I was pregnant. Not if there was someplace else you’d rather be.”
    “How could you even think that?” he said. “Do you honestly think I could ever leave you?”
    “A year ago I would have said no. But the further I get in my career, the less you seem to care about me.”
    “That’s so not true.”
    “Are you tired of me?”
    He fell silent for a moment, then brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. You’re worrying over nothing.”
    “Will you be here for me?”
    “I will always be here for you.”
    She tried to smile, but it was a sad one. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not thinking clearly.”
    “I understand. I know this must seem like the end of theworld. But you were really very lucky. If that Good Samaritan hadn’t come along, you could have frozen to death.”
    Mention of the rescue set her mind awhirl. In a flash the image came back to her. The man pulling her from the car, laying her in the snow, covering her with his coat. “He just left me there.”
    “What?”
    “He pulled me out of the car and then just left.”
    “I guess he didn’t want to get involved. At least he had the sense to call nine-one-one.”
    She touched his hand, trying to stop her own from shaking. “I need to talk to the police.”
    The nurse appeared in the open doorway. “Okay, time to rest.”
    “Just one more minute, please,” said Peyton. She squeezed Kevin’s hand harder, refusing to let him go. “I really want to talk to the police.”
    “Surely the accident report can wait.”
    “That’s just it. I don’t think this was an accident. I was run off the road.”
    “You mean like by a drunk driver or something?”
    “No,” she said, her tone deadly serious. “I think it was deliberate.”
    “Why in the world would anyone want to hurt you?”
    “I told you about that young mother’s creepy boyfriend at the Haverhill clinic. I was afraid he might retaliate. Maybe that’s what this is all about.”
    “Okay,” he said. “I’ll look into it. But I want you to focus on getting well. I’m sure there’s nothing to it, just like the time you thought you heard someone picking at the lock on our front door a couple months ago.”
    “There was definitely —” she started to say, then stopped. Kevin had been out of town when Peyton heard the picking noise at their front door, and when she told him about it, he was gung ho to pack up and move. She didn’t want her own paranoia to push him back up on the let’s-get-the-heck-out-of-Boston bandwagon.
    The nurse reentered the room. “Time to check that bandage. Visitors will have a chance to come back later.”
    He leaned across the bed and kissed Peyton on the forehead. She kept his hand and pulled him close, speaking softly so the nurse would not overhear. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a guard posted outside the door. Please. I’m a little scared.”
    “Okay. I’ll take care of it.”
    “Promise?” Her eyebrow was up. It was the look that had never failed her.
    “Yes. Promise.”
    “Thank you.”
    He left without another word. Peyton looked away, toward the window, and noticed for the first time her faint reflection in the glass. The bandages startled her. Way too big for just a few scratches.
    “Now,” said the nurse, “let’s have a look-see at that eye.”
    She drew a deep breath, bracing herself. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Let’s.”

6
    PEYTON TRIED TO SLEEP, BUT THE SOUNDS OF THE INTENSIVE CARE unit wouldn’t go away. She lay with her eyes shut, thankful to be alive but angry that it had happened at all. The eye itself wasn’t damaged, though she had quite a gash across the eyebrow. She worried about scarring, which only made her feel guilty, as if every ounce of grieving should have been for the real loss, not the cosmetic